ACL Melbourne 2015: Call of Duty

On September 5th & 6th, the Australian Cyber League held their last live event of the year in Melbourne, Australia. With only ten teams attending for Call of Duty, ACL Melbourne was a relatively low-key event to round out the 2015 season.

On September 5th & 6th, the Australian Cyber League held their last live event of the year in Melbourne, Australia. With only ten teams attending for Call of Duty, ACL Melbourne was a relatively low-key event to round out the 2015 season. Notable absences include teams such as as PLT.Mindfreak, Trident, Uproar.iGnitionZ, and Team Skyfire; meaning that – unlike most live events in the ANZ region – first place was anyone’s game.

As usual, the teams were split into two pools for the first day of the competition. Each team would play every other team in their pool in a round-robin fashion to determine seeds for the second day championship bracket. Day two would see each team battling through the double elimination rounds, fighting for their place in the grand final.

Pool A’s standout team was Super Saiyans – a pickup team made up of Plantronics.Nv‘s Macka; Rival and Excite of Skyfire fame; and Damage, previously captain of Avant-Garde‘s T1Dotters team. Super Saiyans breezed through their pool with a 3-0 win in every series. Sway Gaming was close behind Super Saiyans; apart from the 0-3 loss to the aforementioned team, Sway were able to win all their matches and end the day just behind Super Saiyans in points.

In Pool B, Citadel Gaming came out on top. Citadel has borrowed Team Skyfire player Lakie in preparation for their attendance at MLG World Finals in the US later this year. Lakie’s presence proved a boon for this team, as Citadel were able to win every series in their pool. TrueAmBition.NAGA came in close second, only 1 point behind Citadel.

Day two of the competition saw the top performers from each pool – Super Saiyans and Citadel Gaming – struggling for superiority. Both teams won their first two matches of the day in 3-nil sweeps against their respective opponents. In the winners’ bracket semifinal round, Super Saiyans and Citadel finally went head-to-head. Super Saiyans emerged victorious with a 3-1 series score.

Citadel, now in the losers’ bracket, still had a shot at the grand final, as long as they could win their next series. The opposing team was True AmBition.NAGA, an established team who had enjoyed a strong run through the double elimination playoffs. Earlier in the day Citadel vs NAGA had played out in the winners’ bracket round 3, with Citadel winning the series 3-0. If Citadel could repeat this performance in the semifinal, they would be guaranteed a top 2 placement.

True AmBition.NAGA put up a good fight, but were not able to stand up to the might of Citadel. After taking the continuation series 6-0 over NAGA, Citadel went straight back to the mainstage for the grand final game againt Super Saiyans. In the hard-fought continuation series, Citadel took 3 more maps; but it was not enough. Super Saiyans took the grand final series with a score of 6-4, putting them in #1st place overall. Citadel Gaming came in #2nd, and True AmBition.NAGA in #3rd.